August in September

Better late than never? Also, maybe someday I will come up with more creative titles.

At 4 months Auggie:

• weighs 16 lbs 1 oz
• is 26" long
• can roll from front to back
• has rolled from back to front a few times
• likes to blow bubbles
• likes to make spitting noises
• likes to sleep in his crib 
• falls asleep on his own
• is not sleeping through the night very often (insert very sad face)
• is a happy baby
• likes to suck on his bottom lip
• puts everything in his mouth

 Auggie at 4ish months

And just because it's fun, we were looking at old pictures last night to see who August looks the most like. Wow! Time flies! I love the different backgrounds, too, as they remind me of the many different places we were in life as each child was added to our family. 

Logan 4ish months in Rexburg, Idaho. Joe and I were both finishing our undergrad degrees.

 Madi 4ish months (Logan 2 and Joe 25) in Provo, Utah (Wymount!) for law school.

Grant 4ish months in South Euclid, Ohio. Joe was working for Roetzel and Andress.

Another Grant at 4ish months (Madi 2 and Logan 4). I had to include this one because Ammon was playing doctor with Auggie this morning using this same doctor set. Love!  

Ammon 4ish months with his great-grandma. Picture taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Pennsylvania. Joe had recently started his own law practice and we had just moved to a rental home in North Dallas.

Sooo.... who do you think he looks like? 

balls and babies

Our 8 yr-old computer is slower than slow and my phone freezes every 3 seconds, so basically my communication with the outside world is nonexistent right now, which is ok, I guess. I can focus on the important things. Like the notes I find on Madison's door. (I'm sure going to miss this stage in life where my kids leave the funniest writings scattered all over the house.)

You see, a few days ago Madison and Ammon were play-fighting with an orange hopper ball. You know--those balls with a handle that you can hop on. Anyway, Madison kicked it right on top of Auggie's face. Joe and I were right there and we both kind of gasped. Auggie did, too, and then he smiled this big smile like, "Hey, I think I just felt something!" We still had to reprimand the offenders, and Madison may have shed a few tears because she knew that she had just kicked a BALL on her baby brother's face. 

We spent the rest of the day teasing her about balls and babies, which apparently she did not appreciate. 

I will say this, though. Life is a lot more fun when you can have a good sense of humor. 

excitement

Auggie slept through the night for a few weeks and is back to waking up at least once. I found these skeleton jammies at Walmart for $5, and I'm glad I got them because they glow in the dark and make waking up in the middle of the night a little more fun. So fun, in fact, that at 3 a.m. this morning Joe and I were laughing together as we watched his skeleton body kick and squirm. Even though I do wish he would sleep more than 7 hours straight (or maybe I just need to go to bed earlier), he is a joy to be around. He is happy during the day and takes two long, consistent naps. 

Oh my gosh, he's cute! 

Ammon started preschool today! He is very excited that it is finally his turn to go to school. I asked him if he missed me and he politely told me, "No, not at all." I guess that is a good thing.

So what did Auggie and I do with our 4 hours alone? We took a walk and played together for a few minutes. We whipped up dinner and made two extras to take to other families. We visited a friend who just had adorable twin girls. I can't imagine! Next time I will find someone to watch Auggie first so I can help her hold and feed her babies without him getting jealous halfway through. We visited another friend whose baby is one week younger than Auggie. We got the babies together and they just smiled and smiled at each other. Then we came home, ate lunch, and picked up Ammon.

I have grand plans for our two days a week alone. Volunteer at school, clean, eat lunch with Dad, serve others in our community, go shopping, go visiting teaching, maybe even go back to bed. I'm not sure how to prioritize because they all sound so wonderful!

Logan, Madi, and Grant are all doing well at school as well. I am especially excited about Madison's teachers because she's excited about school. It sounds like they are making learning a lot of fun by using music and videos to teach language arts and science. 

In all, today has been a really rewarding day. I know not everyone desires to be a stay-at-home mom, and not everyone has the opportunity to be a SAHM, but I am grateful for the choice, and I am happy with what I have chosen. I am grateful that Joe is happy with our choices as well, and thankful that he has the ability to support us. 

Speaking of Joe (this might embarrass him a little bit), but I think he's amazing. Sometimes we get so caught up on making it through the day by fulfilling our role, whatever that may be, that by the end of the day we are both exhausted, and when that becomes a habit I think that it is easy to take each other for granted instead of acknowledging and appreciating what the other person does. Sometimes, if you are like me, you don't even know that is happening until something changes. The last few weeks Joe has broken that cycle in our family by being extra helpful and loving to everyone, but especially to me. I've noticed that as he makes more effort to help me that I want to make more effort to help him, and by the end of the day we might still be exhausted, but it is a happy and fulfilling exhaustion. Anyway, I won't get too mushy, but it has been a great experience and lesson to me about how love and kindness motivates and changes people, and if you feel a desire to break the exhaustion cycle in your home this might be a good experiment for you to try, too.

Finally, this is the recipe I made today. I don't know if it will be any good, but if it is, it's a keeper because it looks fancy, will hopefully taste great, and is easy, easy, easy! (Isn't it funny that we always try new recipes when we give our food away? Scary!)